NZ Recruiter

Are you part of a MicroTrend?

We're always looking out for new upcoming trends. Magazines publish Top Ten lists of trends of the past and upcoming year, the decade, the millenium. I'd go so far as to say trendspotting is a trend -- take a look at Forbes which has a whole section on Trendsurfing.

We love numbers too. They validate why we do things, why we should do things or which course of action to take. And so armed with numbers, Mark J. Penn's Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today's Big Changes identifies some pretty interesting and diverse "microtrends" -- groups that are emerging in all areas of life. Heard of "Extreme Commuters" (people clocking in more than 90 min. each way - even one who does 372-miles round-trip every day!!!), "New Luddites" (young, urban & employed who refuse to use computers, cellphones, etc.), "Neglected Dads", "Archery Moms" (rise in interest and participation in niche sports and decline in the big sports: baseball, basketball, hockey) and "Cougars" (older women dating/marrying men at least a decade younger)?

A polling analyst and strategist for over 30 years, Penn's been consulting with politicians and corporations, specializing in discovering and targeting niche groups (think "Soccer Moms" during the Bill Clinton era). In MicroTrends, he identifies 75 groups who, although relatively small in number (say 1% of a population), will have a large impact on society as a whole (when you consider the US population to be 300 million, that 1% is pretty big). A common trait these groups share is that they are under the radar at the moment and are being under-served in terms of policies, services or products. And while they're mostly in the U.S., there are lots of microtrends emerging in other countries such as Vietnamese entrepreneurs, Chinese artists and the rise of Indian women in politics and business.

These microtrends are somewhat similar to  Chris Anderson's The Long Tail, where there are all these niche market segments of people who have interests that may seem bizarre or so completely off the beaten track. We should all take note of these important untapped markets, especially entrepreneurs, corporate managers, and policy makers.

It's an interesting read - a neat insight into how things will change and kind of a "heads up" for those in the position to take the opportunity to serve these niche groups.

And as many people do at the beginning of the new year, they take stock of where they are in their career and gauge how far they've progressed towards their goals or whether they want to change their direction. By keeping an open mind to opportunities opened up by these microtrends, you could find yourself in a new and exciting position, company, or career that you hadn't planned on.

Getting ready for the talent wars in 2008

The demand for IT talent has made employers up the ante in recruiting and especially retaining the exceptionally talented, creative and productive. ITworld.com lists 8 new weapons to fight the talent wars in '08. Here's a quick recap of their big 8 recruiting tools and strategies in getting the best and brightest:

1. Using social networks.
2. Using wikis, blogs, and forums.
3. Trying before buying, ie. right-to-hire agreements, contractors, temps
4. Global thinking - outsourcing abroad, specifically India, Russia, China
5. The anywhere workplace - providing for telecommuting and flexible work hours
6. Business vision - hiring more for than just strong technical skills; looking for people who are business savvy and have strong people skills to complement their technical strengths, no matter how hot the skill is (such as .net, PHP, J2EE expertise)
7. Pumped up paychecks (no explanation or comment required here!)
8. Imagination and creativity in compensation and perks - see examples of Great Work Perks, like on-site amenities, exotic research trips, gourmet cafes, countless bonus vacation time/sabbaticals, etc.

Now while these tactics are for employers and recruiters to use, potential candidates out there - take note of these "new weapons" and use some of them to your advantage in finding the best opportunity for you.

First in the list is social networks. If you've been keeping current with your online life (as you should be), you'd be strategic (and professional) in all your profiles and links with network sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Xing. According to surveys, more recruiters are using these online networks to filter in quality candidates because they can interact and get to know possible candidates better. Make sure you're easy to find and by the right people.

Second is Wikis, Blogs and Forums. The trend is for companies to "brand" themselves online through company blogs or employee blogs to attract potential talent. As such, online activity and your online personal '"branding" is important too. Work on your personal branding through your own blog and your contributions to forums. Again, elevate your profile for the right things (like expertise) and the right people.

Trying before Buying. If you're thinking of making a move to a new company or industry, it's probably a good idea for you to try it out as well. Consider a temporary assignment or contracting, although - contracting may be harder since the experience required for those roles are at the level where you can just hit the ground running with your expertise in that technical area and industry.

Business Vision. Work on your business and communication skills while you can in your current job and company. Get on projects where you're facing customers or clients or where you're playing a role in business strategy or managing relationships with other internal business units. Raise your profile in business relations and communication within your current role.

For everything else listed, it's important that you know exactly what your priorities are. What are the things that you'd forgo in order to have? Flexibility over cash? Vacation time over gym membership? Vice-versa? It's important that you know exactly what you want and can present yourself/negotiate when the time comes.

Job outlook for 2008

First off, I'd just like to wish you all an exciting and adventurous 2008! I think this year will be a challenging one for everyone but there are great opportunities out there and I think it's probably a really good time for those of you considering what you want out of your career to take stock and make some decisions. You might want to try asking yourself the following five questions to start the year:

1. What did I achieve in my career last year? (give yourself a pat on the back).
2. What would I really like to achieve in the next year? (push yourself).
3. How can I achieve that where I am now? (planning for it).
4. What is the long term goal that achieving this will support? (big dreams).
5. How can I achieve my long term goal where I am now? (more planning)

The best thing about planning like this is it will help you keep a weather report on whether or not your current employer is helping you achieve your dreams. If it becomes increasingly difficult to plan to achieve what you want where you are, then you need to start considering new places to work. Don't be overly keen to move though, the ability to creatively develop your job in any workplace can give you some very valuable skills as well. You also need to factor in some other important points that may be just as valuable as you getting the chance to achieve your goals. Good examples of that would be, the quality of mentors you have around you, and also the growth prospects of the company you are with. Both these factors can sometimes out weigh your goals because of the huge opportunities they can provide.

With all this in mind, rest assured you've got plenty of opportunities out there as companies look to increase staff, according to the latest Hudson survey of over 1700 employers. So reflect, take stock, and plan.

Kiwi Goes to Silicon Valley on MBA scholarship

Link: Computerworld > AXI founder goes to Silicon Valley on MBA scholarship.

Here is a great story for all the other go-getters out there in New Zealand. Alex Dunayev who is the Director of local web solutions company AXI has won a premium scholarship to Stanford University to do an MBA. It will be great to see how Alex does and I really expect that he'll get both a fantastic education but also some great friends to help him in his career. Stanford's success in graduating entrepreneurs who create successful technology businesses (Yahoo, Google, SGI, Cisco, and on and on) really seems to be unmatched and that bodes well for Alex who already has experience in creating his own business. Well done Alex, I'm sure everyone in the NZ IT community would agree with me in that we hope you enjoy great success in your studies.

Tech Salary Negotiations - IT jobs | Negotiation Experts

Link: Tech Salary Negotiations - IT jobs | Negotiation Experts.

Here's a great article to read and to reread when the time comes for you to negotiate  in your job. Negotiation is such an important skill to have - not just for sales or if your job function is to close deals. It's for everyone who collaborates and works with other people. It's essential for you in managing your own career. It's a skill that definitely takes time and experience to master, and even then, it's something that you just need to prepare for well.

Calum Coburn gives an in-depth look at different negotiation rules and tactics for IT professionals when it comes to job offers and annual reviews. Why IT professionals? Because they mostly don't have that skillset or experience as say, sales or marketing people do. Nevertheless, I think these rules apply to everyone. So if you're about to go into a job offer salary negotiation or annual review, have a read of his 32 points. He also gives 4 exercises to complete to prepare for the big event.

Some things I'd like to comment on :

Point 4. His advice: Get all offers in writing. I say: Well, not necessarily. If this is about a job offer through a recruiter or headhunter, most often the negotiations are before the offer is written out. Most employers like to give a formal job offer in writing when the deal is done - that is, the job is accepted at a specific salary. Most involved parties in a job offer (the client, the recruiter, the candidate) want it to happen, so the going back and forth is done verbally before the final job offer is written. If the recruiter has done his or her job right, there should be a pretty close meeting of the minds when it gets close to that salary negotiation stage anyway. Of course, you always have the right to negotiate after the offer has been written, but you most likely would have played all your cards to get to that point. But with this in mind, it's Point number 14 is important - read the contract well.

Points 6 & 7 His advice: Set your sights high & Ask for more. It's true. You never know unless you ask. Have confidence but also be realistic and realize the circumstances of your situation. It's important to you know yourself well - to what levels you can perform and deliver.

Definitely a good checklist to keep and to refer back to when the time comes.

Software by Rob : Personality Traits of the Best Software Developers

Link: Software by Rob : Personality Traits of the Best Software Developers.

Here's a good blog for software developers to add to your RSS feed. Software by Rob is a blog written by a software developer for software developers - from hiring, to managing, motivating and self-development. One article I like is based on his personal observations of the best four personality traits he's seen in developers that he's admired. The kind that make you think - whoa, I'm gonna quit my job and go work for his startup!

In a nutshell, he finds that the best developers are:

1. Pessimistic in the short-term. They anticipate problems and find points of failure before they happen, but are also optimistic in the long-term - they're confident in overall success.
2. Anti-Sloppy Code.  He refers to NASA's software systems that have zero-defects
3. He sees great developers as Long Term Life Planners. With set goals, discipline to get there in their home life carries over to their work life.This third trait I think is applicable to success in anything - not just developing.
4. Very Attentive to Detail

Hopefully I didn't spoil it all. It's a good read - especially the loads of comments with different perspectives on what the common traits are and aren't.

How Doing Good Work Hurts You

Most of us wouldn't think of doing "good" work as hurting us. But in a recent conversation between Michael Bungay Stanier and David Allen on GTD Connect (subscription only) Michael made this point loud and clear. Based on a previous description by Designer Milton Glaser, Michael asserts that in our lives we are only ever doing three kinds of work:

• Bad work
• Good work
• Great work

Michael believes that you will only ever do more "great" work if you can endeavor to remove some "good" work from your life. This idea resonated with me as I believe that the characteristics of great work are fundamentally different from good. In particular, I believe great work requires either a challenge or learning in order to give you a feeling of achievement and satisfaction. And I also believe that great work requires imagination and creativity. Good work can benefit from it as well, but for great work it's a necessity.

In our careers we often get caught up in the mundane or the routine, in work that is neither challenging nor a learning experience. But I believe that the key to turning this around is to take some of the good work you do and focus on using your creativity to make it great. Challenge yourself, stretch yourself to make your work into a creative environment. It will make all the difference for yourself in your career, as well as in your enjoyment of your life.

In particular, I have found that the more creative I was at work, the more I enjoyed myself. Quite often it led to success, but not always! But despite any failures, it has always created indirect benefits that I never considered beforehand. I think it is tough to be creative in our everyday work. And unfortunately many companies seem to pay lip service to wanting people who "think outside the box" (See Kathy Sierra for more). I also think that a lack of tools to really evaluate someone's creativity is a set back for companies in the hiring process.

Have you had an opportunity to be creative at work and have had that backfire on you? Or had it be wildly successful? Would you like to share that story? I would be more than interested in hearing about stories of creativity at work as it seems to be a topic that many readers are really interested in.

Why You Should Give Referrals

I had an interesting question the other day from a candidate: "Why would anyone give you a referral when you get paid a huge fee and they get nothing?" I thought this was a great question. I actually addressed this in the Annual IT Architectural Summit I spoke at last week, so I thought I'd share my answer here.

Many would be surprised to hear that a lot of people give out referrals. And by far, most referrals I get are from senior candidates. That's right - senior candidates are easily the most open about not only giving referrals of people they know, but also giving what I call "blind referrals". This is when they hand out names of people who they think are reasonably good or worth talking to but aren't necessarily their personal contacts.

For senior candidates I think they see their ability to give referrals as almost an example of their strength and knowledge in their industry. It also shows that in their experience, they realize the importance and value of giving referrals as well as the long-term gains.

But to get down to the reasons why executives should give referrals: It's all about goodwill, reciprocity, and networking.

Goodwill. There's nothing really to explain here. When you help someone, it's a good thing. Becoming a referee for that person, referring that person to a recruiter for an opportunity - in the end, it's all for the benefit of that person - whether or not a new job actually materializes. The person you helped is better off by having had at least a chance to consider an opportunity. Opportunity is always a good thing.

Reciprocity. The Law of Reciprocation is powerful. I got this from Dr. Robert Cialdini, a widely recognized expert in negotiation studies, who said the power of reciprocation is extremely strong and should be used when presented with a moment of power; that is, when you have just done or given something beneficial to someone. When they thank you, it's up to you to seize that moment of power and respond:

"I'm sure you would do the same for me if I needed it."

That's the law of reciprocation. As it turns out from Dr. Cialdini's research, people will reciprocate when receiving a gift, advice, or help from someone, no matter how much time has passed from the initial giving. In what ways? Well, if you helped a colleague or former manager by referring them to a recruiter, or offering to be a referee for a potential employer, they may return the favour by looking out for your best interests as well.

Networking. This widens and the ties strengthen from you giving referrals.

The key is to give to them first. And the easiest way is refer them to a key person, or give them a referral if they need one for a new opportunity.

Hopefully, this answers the question. While it's hard to think past the short-term outcomes, like a referral fee, look to the long-term gains of having a quality relationship with someone in your network who can reciprocate goodwill to you when the time comes. It's an investment.

Giving referrals doesn't happen as much here in New Zealand as it does in larger markets, like the US or Japan. But it's something that I think should happen more often.

 

2nd Annual IT Architecture Summit: March 15-16, Auckland

Link: Bright*Star Conferences & Training Ltd - 2nd Annual IT Architecture Summit.

If you haven't done so yet, register for the 2nd Annual IT Architecture Summit which will be held next Thursday and Friday (March 15th-16th) @ the Stamford Plaza in Auckland. Here are two great reasons why:

• First and foremost, there will be an enlightening and engaging presentation from a very experienced and savvy IT recruiter... yours truly! I was kindly invited to speak on recruiting strategies for enterprise architecture.
• Secondly, to help you to add value to your organization, this summit will address and explore in-depth case studies of effective architectural design, including expert speakers on topics such as the role of enterprise architecture, development of standards, Service Oriented Architecture, application delivery network, integration, IT security, and more.

Check here for the AGENDA and how to REGISTER

Top 10 Success Factors with Onboarding

This was brought to my attention by a comment from Sue Edwards, president of Clearing the 90-Day Hurdle, an onboarding coaching service that deals with all the challenges of a new hire (especially senior executives) - for the employer, the employee, and recruiter. They address a lot of the issues of being a new hire, hiring someone new, and easing the transition into a successful one.

It's clear from the number of hits that my post on Onboarding keeps getting, onboarding is  a concern for a lot of companies who realize the value of keeping the talent they've spent so much effort, time and money in recruiting. They realize why it's just as important to invest as much time and effort into retention and development of staff.

From their website:

A lot can go wrong in the first 90 days after a new executive hire or promotion. Would it surprise you to learn that at least 40% of new leaders fail to meet the expectations of their new role?

• Desired results are not achieved within the expected timeframe

• Difficulties in assimilating to a new culture and earning credibility are barriers to success

• Productivity and employee engagement are negatively impacted

Research conducted with over 20 executives shows clearly that:

• There is remarkable agreement on the most important behaviours for success in the first 90 days — regardless of the interviewee’s industry, gender, internal or external role.

• Providing new hires with the "secrets to success" in their first 90 days is critical to enhancing the ROI on recruitment and re-training costs.

• Even exceptional, talented new hires are often unaware that some of their well-intended behaviours are potentially derailing.

For more insight, there is a free report on Top Ten Success Factors and Seven Deadly Sins for Leaders Transitioning into Organizations, based on Edwards' experience of coaching leaders-in-transitions for small businesses up to Fortune 500 multi-nationals, along with in-depth research with senior executives, human resources leaders and recruiters. So far I've received positive feedback from people I've passed it on to (with her permission of course!).